Only one paid news case confirmed

Mumbai: A total of 172 complaints of paid news were received by the Chief Electoral Officer of Maharashtra during recently held Lok Sabha elections, but only one out of them could be confirmed as the case of paid news, revealed an RTI query. The query was filed by RTI activist Anil Galgali seeking details of the complaints received by the CEO against candidates in Lok Sabha polls and the number of candidates disqualified for indulging in paid news. In response to the query, Shirish Mohod, an officer of Under Secretary rank in the State government, said that while a total of 172 complaints of paid news were received by the Media Certification and Monitoring Committee (MCMC) set up by the State Election Commission, only one complaint was ascertained as the paid news case. He, however, did not disclose the name of the candidate concerned and the action taken in this regard.